Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of PM’s address at the inauguration of various development projects in Gorakhpur, UP
Bharat Mata Ki-Jai, Bharat Mata Ki-Jai! I greet the divine people of Gorakhpur, the city of religion, spirituality and revolution. I pay my respects to Paramahansa Yogananda, Mahayogi Gorakhnath ji, respectable Hanuman Prasad Poddar ji, and die-hard revolutionary Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil and to this holy land. Today that moment has come for which all of you were waiting for the fertilizer factory and AIIMS for a long time. Many congratulations to all of you.
Present on the dais with me are Uttar Pradesh Governor Smt. Anandiben Patel, the popular Karmayogi Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath ji, the Deputy Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dr. Dinesh Sharma, the president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of Bharatiya Janata Party, Shri Swatantradev Singh ji, national president of the Apna Dal and our colleague in the cabinet, Anupriya Patel ji, the President of Nishad Party, Sanjay Nishad ji, my colleague in the cabinet Shri Pankaj Choudhary ji, Ministers of Uttar Pradesh government Shri Jaipratap Singh ji, Shri Surya Pratap Shahi ji, Shri Dara Singh Chauhan ji, Swami Prasad Maurya ji, Upendra Tiwari ji, Satish Dwivedi ji, Jai Prakash Nishad ji, Ram Chauhan ji and Anand Swaroop Shukla ji, my colleagues in Parliament, members of the UP Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, and my dear brothers and sisters who have come in large numbers to bless us!
When I came on stage, I was astonished looking at such a huge crowd and many of them who are far away perhaps might not even see or listen to me. People from far and wide are waving flags. Your love and blessings give energy and strength and inspire us to work for you. I came here five years ago to lay the foundation stone of AIIMS and fertilizer factory. You have given me the privilege of launching these two projects together today. The Regional Medical Research Center of ICMR has also got its new building today. I congratulate the people of UP very much.
Friends,
The launch of the fertilizer plant and AIIMS in Gorakhpur is sending out many messages. When there is a double engine government, then the work is also done with double the speed. When something is done with a good intention, then even disasters do not become a hindrance. When there is a government that cares about the poor, exploited and downtrodden and works hard for them, it leads to positive results. The event being held in Gorakhpur today is a proof of the fact that when a new India is determined then nothing is impossible.
Friends,
When you gave me the opportunity to serve in 2014, the fertilizer sector in the country was in a very bad shape. Major fertilizer factories of the country were closed for years and imports were increasing continuously. Another major problem was that the available fertilizer was secretly used for other purposes other than agriculture. Therefore, the shortage of urea used to hog the headlines and farmers had to bear sticks and bullets for fertilizer. We moved forward with a new resolve to extricate the country from that situation. We started working on three fronts simultaneously. To start with, we stopped the misuse of urea and made 100% neem coating of urea. Secondly, we gave soil health cards to crores of farmers so that they could identify the kind of fertilizers needed for their fields and thirdly, we emphasized on increasing the production of urea. We focused on reopening the closed fertilizer plants. Under this campaign, we selected four major fertilizer factories of the country, including this fertilizer plant in Gorakhpur. One has started working today and the rest will also be operational in the next few years.
Friends,
Another important thing has happened to start the Gorakhpur Fertilizer Plant. Just as Bhagiratha ji brought the River Ganga ji to earth from the heavens, similarly Urja Ganga has been used to bring fuel to this fertilizer plant. The Haldia-Jagdishpur pipeline has been laid under the PM Urja Ganga Gas Pipeline Project. Due to this pipeline, Gorakhpur Fertilizer Plant has not only started, but dozens of districts of Eastern India have started getting affordable piped gas.
Brothers and sisters,
While laying the foundation stone of the fertilizer plant, I had said that Gorakhpur would emerge as the pivot of development in this entire region because of this factory. Today I can see it come true. This fertilizer factory will not only give enough urea to many farmers of the state, but will also create thousands of new employment and self-employment opportunities in Purvanchal. Now a new possibility of economic development will emerge and many new businesses will start. Along with the ancillary industries associated with the fertilizer factory, the transportation and service sector will also get a boost.
Friends,
Gorakhpur Fertilizer Factory will play a huge role in making the country self-reliant in the production of urea. After the commissioning of five fertilizer plants being built in different parts of the country, 60 lakh tonnes of additional urea will be available. In other words, India will not have to send thousands of crores of rupees abroad; India's money will be spent in India only.
Friends,
We have realized the importance of self-sufficiency in fertilizers during the Corona crisis. Corona led to worldwide lockdowns, restriction of movement from one country to another and supply chains were interrupted. This led to a steep rise in the prices of fertilizers internationally. But our government, which is dedicated and sensitive to the farmers, ensured not to let the burden of the price rise of fertilizers in the world pass on to the farmers. We took the responsibility to see that farmers had minimum problems. You will be surprised to know my brothers and sisters that we needed to increase the subsidy to the farmers by more than 43,000 crore rupees due to increase in the prices of the NPK  fertilizer in the world and we did it. Our government also increased the subsidy to urea by Rs 33,000 crore so that our farmers were not burdened with the escalating prices of fertilizer. While urea is being sold at Rs 60-65 per kg in the international market, there is an effort to provide urea 10 to 12 times cheaper to farmers in India.
Brothers and sisters,
Today, India spends thousands of crores of rupees every year to import edible oil. In order to change this situation, a national mission has been started for the production of sufficient edible oil in the country itself. India also spends 5-7 lakh crore rupees every year on import of crude oil for petrol and diesel. We are also trying to reduce the import of crude oil by emphasizing on ethanol and bio-fuel. This area of Purvanchal is the stronghold of sugarcane farmers. Ethanol is turning out to be a much better source of income for sugarcane farmers than sugar. Several factories are being set up in Uttar Pradesh itself to make bio-fuel. Only 20 crore liters of ethanol from UP was supplied to oil companies before we formed the government. Today, the farmers of Uttar Pradesh alone are supplying almost 100 crore liters of ethanol to the oil companies. Earlier oil used to come from the Gulf andnow oil from  cropshas started coming. Today, I will appreciate the Yogi ji government for the unprecedented work for the sugarcane farmers in the past few years. Recently, remunerative price for sugarcane farmers has been increased to Rs.350 . What the two previous governments paid to the sugarcane farmers in 10 years, Yogi ji's government has paid almost as much in its four-and-a-half years.
Brothers and sisters,
The real development is that which is balanced and which is beneficial for all. And this can be understood only by those who are sensitive and who care about the poor. For a long time, this huge region, including Gorakhpur, was dependent only on one medical college. The poor and middle class families had to go to Banaras or Lucknow for treatment. You know better than me the situation of meningitis in this region till five years ago. The research center which used to run in the medical college here did not even have its own building.
Brothers and sisters,
When you gave us the opportunity to serve, you see AIIMS coming up here. Not only this, the research center's own building is also ready. When I came to lay the foundation stone of AIIMS, I had said then that we would do our best to get this region rid of encephalitis. We worked on eliminating the causes of the outbreak of meningitis and also on its treatment. Today that hard work is visible on the ground. Today, the cases of encephalitis have reduced by almost 90 percent in seven districts of Gorakhpur and Basti division. We are succeeding in saving more and more lives of children who fall sick. The work done by the Yogi government in this regard is now being talked about internationally as well. With the new AIIMS and ICMR Research Center, the campaign to get rid of encephalitis will be further strengthened. This will also help UP a lot in the prevention of other infectious diseases and epidemics.
Brothers and sisters,
For any country to progress, it is very necessary that its health services should be affordable and accessible to all. Otherwise, I have also seen a lot of people traveling from one city to another, mortgaging their land and borrowing money from others for treatment. I am working hard to get every poor, downtrodden, oppressed, exploited, underprivileged, whatever class they belong to and in whatever area they live in to get out of this mess. Earlier it was thought that medical institutions like AIIMS are only meant for big cities,whereas our government is ensuring the best treatment, the biggest hospital to the farthest areas of the country. Can you imaginethere was only one AIIMS in the country since independence till the beginning of this century? Atal ji had sanctioned six more AIIMS during his tenure. Work is underway to build 16 new AIIMS across the country in the last seven years. Our goal is that every district of the country must have at least one medical college. I am happy that the work of medical colleges is progressing rapidly in many districts in UP also. And just now Yogi ji was describing in detail the progress of medical colleges.Recently, you gave me the opportunity to inaugurate nine medical colleges in UP simultaneously. It is the result of the top priority being given to health that UP is reaching the milestone of about 17 crore vaccination doses.
Brothers and sisters,
The health, convenience and prosperity of more than 130 crore countrymen is paramount to us, particularly for our mothers, sisters and daughters whose health and facilities received very little attention. In the past few years, our sisters have got pucca houses, toilets, which you people call 'Izzat Ghar',electricity, gas, water, nutrition, vaccination etc and their results are now visible. The recent Family Health Survey also points out many positive signs. For the first time in the country, the number of women has exceeded that of men. Better health facilities have also played a big role in this. In the last 5-6 years, the ownership of land and house of women has increased. Uttar Pradesh is among the top states in this regard. Similarly, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of women using bank accounts and mobile phones.
Friends,
While talking to you today, I am reminded of the dubious attitude of the earlier governments and their apathy towards the people. I purposely want to mention this. Everyone knew the importance of the fertilizer plant of Gorakhpur for the farmers of this entire region and for employment here. But the earlier governments did not show any interest in starting it. Everyone knew that the demand for AIIMS in Gorakhpur was being raised for years. But those who were running the government before 2017 made all kinds of excuses in providing land for AIIMS. I rememberthe land for Gorakhpur AIIMS was allotted by the previous government very reluctantly andthat too out of compulsion.
Friends,
Today's event is also a befitting reply to those people who are very fond of questioning timings. When such projects are completed, years of hard work is involved in it. These people will never understand that the double engine government remained engaged in development and did not let the work stop even during the Corona crisis.
My dear brothers and sisters,
These people have abandoned the ideals of Lohia ji, Jai Prakash Narayan ji, the discipline of these great personalities long ago. Today the entire UP knows very well that those with red caps have been concerned with red beacons on their cars and they have nothing to do with your hardship. The red-cap people want power for scams, to fill their chests, for illegal occupations and to give free rein to the mafia. The red-cap people want to form the government to show favour to the terrorists and to get them out of jail. Therefore, remember, those wearing red caps are a red alert to UP, i.e., alarm bells!
Friends,
The sugarcane farmers of UP cannot forget the earlier government which was there before Yogi ji as they had a tough time in getting their dues. It used to take months before the amount was paid in installments. There were different types of games played and scams committed related to sugar mills. People of Purvanchal and UP know this very well.
Friends,
Our double engine government is committed to serving you and making your life easier. We do not want you to pass on the troubles that you have inherited to your children. We want to change this. The country has also seen those days of the earlier governments when the poor did not get food grains despite having plenty of it. Today our government has opened government godowns for the poor and Yogi ji is busy delivering food grains to every household. About 15 crore people of UP are getting its benefit. Recently, the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana has been extended till Holi.
Friends,
Earlier, some districts of UP were VIP districts in the matter of power supply. Yogi ji has made every district of UP a VIP district by providing electricity. Today, every village is getting equal and abundant electricity under Yogi ji's government. Earlier governments had defamed UP by providing protection to criminals. Today mafias are in jail and investors are investing openly in UP. That's the double development of the double engine. Therefore, UP has faith in the double engine government. With the expectation that we will continue to receive your blessings, many congratulations to all of you once again! Speak loudly with me, Bharat Mata ki Jai! Bharat Mata ki Jai! Bharat Mata ki Jai! Thanks a lot.
DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of PM’s speech. Original speech was delivered in Hindi.